General Information on Violence Against Women

Women can be affected by various forms of violence. This can be exerted on psychological, physical, or sexual levels. Additionally, violence against women also manifests on economic (for example, withholding money for household management) and social levels (for example, social norms).

These forms of violence can be perpetrated either directly by an individual (individual violence) or by society as a whole (structural violence). Structural violence is evident, for example, through unequal power relations between men and women in society.

Individual and structural violence interact and reinforce each other. Therefore, to effectively combat violence, measures must be tailored accordingly.

• both targeting the perpetrator directly and simultaneously supporting the victim, as well as aiming
• to change the unequal power relations between the genders

Women most frequently experience violence within their family. Although the number of unreported cases is very high, research indicates that one in five women has already experienced violence in a relationship. According to police estimates, around 90 percent of all acts of violence occur within the family and social environment (for example, by relatives, friends, or acquaintances).

With the NAP (National Action Plan) for the Protection of Women from Violence 2014-2016, important measures were implemented across Austria to fulfill the demands of the Istanbul Convention against violence against women (“Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence”).

Quelle: Österreichisches Bundeskanzleramt https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/agenda/frauen-und-gleichstellung/gewalt-gegen-frauen/formen-der-gewalt.html